Soundtrack

I heard a song this past fall that brought our adoption process full circle for me.  My husband would totally think I’m crazy for this, so let’s hope he doesn’t follow my blog.  Ha!

For those of you new to our story, you may have to go back to this 2010 post when we first started our adoption process from Nepal.  But in a [rather large] nutshell, here's the backstory.

In the summer of ’10, I volunteered to babysit a newborn baby boy for 8 days.  The baby was the son of a teenage mom who was part of a ministry called Young Lives in Nebraska.  A friend of ours from church was an adult leader in that ministry and took these young girls away on a retreat to Colorado every year.  The young moms had to find sitters for their babies unless they were still nursing.  One young mom was in need of a sitter for her 4-week-old baby boy.  Even if my husband was hesitant, I knew it was something I could do.

I set up the old bassinette in our master bedroom, I washed off the old baby bottle drying rack and set it up in my kitchen next to the sink.  I brought out fresh blankets from the linen closet. 

When the young mom dropped the baby off at my home, she was expressionless.  They brought with them a suitcase of clothes that reeked of too much fabric softener and Febreeze, a baby swing and a car seat.  Our friend asked the young mom if she was ready to go, leaving our house with her baby behind and the young mom just nodded, wide eyed, both arms extended with locked elbows and handed her baby over without kissing his head, saying good-bye, without so much as looking me in the eyes.  It was a sad moment, it really was. 

I spoiled that baby for days.  I wholeheartedly loved our 3 a.m. dates over dirty diapers and formula and snuggling.  I loved taking him to the store, to steamy hot t-ball games (that was good for a laugh because all our friends did a double-take and knew there was no way I had had a baby).  I had to work one afternoon at church for a wedding and I dropped him off with a sitter, but when I returned and ran an errand with him to Target, I know I saw his first smile.  Precious!  Over the course of these few days, my husband sang a song to him that was quite fitting for his awkward life – “The Eye of the Tiger” from Rocky.  We wanted that boy to grow up to be strong, courageous, a fighter winning against the odds.  We sang it over and over to him, pumping his tiny arms in the air as he lay on our floor sprawled out on a receiving blanket.

When the day came for the young mom to pick him up and take him back, I never got a phone call when expected.  I figured they were driving all night from Colorado and they were just running late or had car trouble.  Lunchtime came and still no call.  Around 1 p.m. and I made a call to our friend to see if she was back yet with all the girls.  They had been back since 7:30 a.m.  It was the responsibility of this young mom to call me and to pick up her son and she never did.  I learned more of her story over the phone and while it’s her story to tell, I will say that on this retreat, she questioned her future as a teen mom raising a baby boy.  Despite our adoption situation, I offered immediately that I would give this boy a home if he needed one, be it temporary or permanent.  I was willing to dump our international adoption plans if that is what God wanted me to do.  I was willing to become a certified foster parent, or jump head first into a domestic adoption.  I had bonded and I was in love!  I had all boy stuff, everything I needed to take care of him.  When the young mom finally arrived after 2pm, my heart broke saying good-bye to the baby and I cried and told him to be good to his mommy as I clicked his carrier into the seatbelt in the van.  I stood in the driveway as they drove off and then I sobbed behind the closed door of my home after they had driven out of site. 

The very next day we were driving from Lincoln to Chicago for our annual trip home for the Leadership Summit.  I was still heartbroken and simply silent in the car.  My husband thought it was sweet that I had bonded with this tiny one in just a matter of days and told me I’d have no trouble bonding with our future adopted daughter.  I couldn’t even respond.  I simply cried a waterfall of tears as I stared out the passenger window.  Then “Eye of the Tiger” came on the radio as we were just outside Omaha.  The sobs came hard.  Oh, I missed that boy and felt like a part of me was missing!

Fast-forward 2 years.  Two years, one failed adoption, a new job moving us across the country, 2 boys and a referral in hand from China for a waiting little girl.  

I was driving home from school with my boys on Halloween and “Eye of the Tiger” was playing on the radio.  I think of that sweet baby boy and then I think of my waiting daughter.  As mentioned in my previous post, Hu Jing means “quiet tiger."   I almost had to pull over.  I really thought of the lyrics as I sang them through both sad, but now mostly happy tears.  What a song of challenge, of fighting for the dream, for the win, fighting to stay alive.  I think it’s an appropriate song for our haphazard adoption, for that sweet baby boy who must be 2 1/2 now, for the daughter waiting for us in China.  We have gone the distance and gotten back on our feet.  We have fought just to keep our adoption dream alive – the dream of our Quiet Tiger waiting for us in China.

Now go sing the song because I know I've gotten it into your heads!

LOA!!!

IT HAS FINALLY ARRIVED!  [insert sigh of relief, followed by uncontrollable sobbing, coupled with complete exhaustion]

In China's eyes, we have a daughter!  Today our agency received our LOA - Letter of Approval.  They are emailing it to us for our signatures, then we send it back so they can forward it to USCIS.  Hopefully within a month we will receive our I800 Approval.  Following that, the wait is only 7-12 weeks until we see our daughter face to face in China!

This LOA doesn't come without some drama, however.  Our agency knows Jay has a new job in CA and that he's been out there since last April.  Our Social Worker in Nebraska will have to add 2 or 3 sentences in a home study addendum stating as much.  Shouldn't take long at all and hopefully she can do that today or this weekend!

Now that we have our LOA, I am free to share her picture with you.  You've got to see this face!


This is the face of our DAUGHTER!

Her name is Hu Jing (pronounced HOO-jung) and we'll keep that as her middle name.  In Chinese her name means Quiet Tiger.  Be on the lookout for a blog post about how her name has special meaning for us.  Yes, we have chosen an English first name for her but we'll keep you in suspense.  Much like our pregnancies, we will keep her first name a secret until she's in our arms.

Hu Jing does have special needs and we will talk about them in a future post.  Normally I would never share personal medical information with anyone in any public forum, but her special need will be clearly visible to all of you and is not correctible.  So, just in the interest of preparing family and friends, I will share that info with you in the future.  Stay tuned.

For the time being I will not share info about where she is currently living.  When we travel, I'll will tell you what province she is from because we will have to fly there to meet her for the first time.  For now, I will protect her privacy and safety by keeping that info off of the internet.

Thanks for respecting her privacy on those 2 issues!

We are thrilled, excited, ecstatic, and in love!  We love you, Hu Jing - our Quiet Tiger -- and we are coming for you!

Be a Piece of the Puzzle

International adoption is a trek across treacherous terrain with rocky and slippery ground, poor visibility, storms that leave destruction in their wake.

For us, the highest heights were being accepted into 2 country programs - first Nepal and then China, reading the email that our dossier had been sent to Nepal in the summer of 2010 and then to China in the summer of 2011, the phone call that announced our waiting daughter, the pictures that followed and seeing her sweet face for the first time!

But with the highs, we fell to deep lows that sweep many adoption dreams into an endless crevasse, to be lost forever.  We lost Nepal when the US government shut down the program on August 6, 2010.  With that, we lost $9000 that we had invested.  We changed careers and have been attempting to change locales and are still awaiting a buyer for our home.  We faced emergency surgery while our family was apart.  We lost a car in a car wreck on the West Coast.  What a mess!

But through it all we have been clinging to the knowledge that God will complete what He has called us to.      So many of you who have offered your prayers, thoughts and good wishes for our waiting daughter in China are forever a part of her story.  You are a puzzle piece of her journey to our family.

We want to commemorate all of you in a way that our daughter will know just how many friends it took to bring her home.  I have created a large 768 piece jigsaw puzzle of a colorful map of China and we are looking to you to sponsor one, or as many pieces as you can, to help raise our travel fees.  We will write your names on the back of your sponsored pieces so that our daughter will have the knowledge of you for the rest of her life.

Sponsor 1 piece for $15.  

There are 4 ways to donate:


1.  NEW!!!  For a tax deductible donation, go to the Donate! tab above and send your donation to LifeSong for Orphans.  They will hold all funds until our agency requests them.  LifeSong has provided us with an interest-free adoption loan but it will not cover the remaing fees or travel fees.  But this is the only tax deductible way for you to donate, so take advantage of it!  I'm grateful they will assist us in so many ways.

2.  Click on the Donate! tab above and click on the Chip In button to donate electronically (PayPal rates do apply).  Be sure to leave a comment here on this page so we know what names to write on the back of your piece(s).


3.  To avoid PayPal fees, send a check payable to La Vida International directly to our adoption agency (address and instructions on the Donate! tab above).  Again, be sure to comment here so we know how many pieces you are sponsoring and what names we are to write on the back.  Our agency will not administrate the fundraiser, but they will collect all fees since they make all our travel arrangements.


4.  Or send us a check in the mail to Jay's office (address also on the Donate! tab above) or see us in person if you are local to either one of us.

Three easy ways to donate, just take your pick!

As the days go by we will assemble the puzzle, learn a bit about China as a family, take pictures and post our progress here.  If we can get all the pieces sponsored, it will cover airfare and lodging for both Jay and I to fly to China as soon as we receive our travel approval.

Time is of the essence here folks!  We only have a matter of weeks to make this happen because once our paperwork arrives and is approved by China and US Immigration, our agency starts making travel arrangements immediately.  So rally the family, get the kids involved, share this on your blog, ask your parents, neighbors, coworkers to get behind us and help bring our daughter home.  Please help us complete the puzzle by Christmas!

There is no training to help one prepare for the adventure that is international adoption, but it is not puzzling as to how we've made it through.  We've conquered the mountain with the support, warm wishes and prayers of all of you.  We're forever grateful!

Trying to Complete the Puzzle,
Brooke, Jay, the boys and 1 waiting girl in China

Approved!

Just minutes ago I got off the phone with LifeSong for Orphans. They have approved us for an interest-free adoption loan! Praise God!!!!!

The amount we will receive will not cover the remaining expenses though. It will leave us short by $3000 plus travel fees. So, please keep us in your prayers for these final amounts. Donate if you can, pass our blog along to family and friends who might be able to help, host a fundraiser, help us get creative and find ways to come up with the remaining costs.

Still no LOA yet. Any China families out there receiving yours recently? Any clue of the current wait times? As you can see by the ticker above, we're going on 3 months and everyday I expect the call from my agency.

Still no bites on the house either. More showings but no offers. It will only get harder come wintertime. We've had contractors in to estimate paint and trim work for the basement that we finished ourselves. I feel like my realtor wasted his time by talking to the contractors for their suggestions when nothing they would do would add any value to my home. Besides, we don't have the funds to pay for the work anyway. My mom is retiring soon and she has offered to come out and help me paint a couple of rooms to make them more neutral. I need a buyer who can look past paint colors. Keep praying because this gets more trying by the day and I'm physically and emotionally exhausted. I need this to end or I'm going to lose my mind!

Thank you, God for the blessing of an adoption loan! You continue to provide everything we need for the daughter You designed for us. Thank you! Amen.

1 Week - Keep Praying

One week behind us and still no word on the adoption loan I mentioned in my previous post or our LOA.  So please keep us in your prayers for both this week.  Pray for God's favor on our adoption finances and that He would provide every penny we need so our daughter can come home without delay!

Also, still no house sale yet.  We've been super close 3 times but the clients always choose the other house.  Maddening!  Living in limbo is getting really difficult and stressful with the approaching holidays.  Have you ever had a conversation with someone, and they are talking and you are listening and what they say takes you off guard and makes you stop in your tracks because what they are saying might just be the truth, the crazy truth, something you hadn't thought of yourself?  I had one of those moments when I called one of my best friends in MN to tell her about our referral.  She said to me, "Brooke, maybe this is why your house hasn't sold.  Maybe your daughter is coming home first."  Whoa.  Mind blowing.  Maybe she's right.  As these weeks and months drag on and on with no sale, the more and more convinced we are that our sweet girl is the priority, not the house.

A friend from our new church said to me recently, "Wouldn't it be just like God to work things out so that one of you needs to be in China picking up your daughter and the other [spouse] will need to be in NE packing up and closing on your house?"  Again, it was a stop-dead-in-your-tracks kind of statement.  I don't know if God is speaking through these 2 friends, but perhaps, just perhaps He is.  And if that's the case, then we could be just 2-3 months away from traveling to China and selling our house at the same time.  We'll see how He has it all unfold.

Keep praying, people!    Oh please, keep praying!

2 Weeks - A Call to Prayer

This morning I received a phone call from LifeSong for Orphans, an organization that provides grants and interest-free adoption loans.  They are processing our application for an interest-free loan and they had questions about our application.  I spoke with the gal for 15 minutes or so and fine tuned the numbers and dollars and timing we are facing.  She said in 2 weeks they will make their decision about our application!

Will you add us to your prayer list for the following two weeks and ask God for His favor regarding this loan application and that He would provide us the funds we need?  Our remaining expenses are:

$555 - US Consulate Fees - due upon receipt of LOA
$7367 - China adoption Fee - due upon receipt of LOA

It would be my prayer that LifeSong would provide a loan to cover the 2 costs above because they will be due when we receive our LOA from China, which should be arriving ANY DAY NOW!

After that we will very quickly owe travel fees which will be near the amount of $7800 per person.  We'll climb that mountain when we get there.  In the meantime, you can still donate!  Click on the donate tab above to find out how.  Above all...

Please pray for God's favor on our adoption finances by providing us with this interest-free loan from LifeSong, enough to cover the LOA fees above.

Thanks to one and all for praying our daughter home!  You are all a part of her story in a major way!

Pictures!

Today I got a gift I've been waiting for ever since we got our referral -- updated pictures! It's killing me to refrain from posting online, but I will continue to abide by my agency's wishes. The pictures in our referral were dated. I'm guessing they were from her intake day at the orphanage or shortly thereafter. Today's pictures are much more recent. My how she has grown!

While I was literally jumping up and down with joy and spinning circles in the living room with my iPad in hand, there is definitely a bitter side to seeing her face too. I feel the miles and oceans in between us for sure and my heart breaks that she has no clue who we are and how much we adore her. Secondly, I could tell by her sweet runny nose that she has a cold in these pictures. Oh, I should be the one with the Kleenex box cleaning that sweet face! I should be the one snuggling and cuddling that cold away!

We still await a buyer for our home.

We still live in limbo.

We still wait for our LOA.

We still wait to bring our daughter home.

But I am thankful for today's gift. Please praise God for His blessing today!

The Call

I love reading adoption blogs and hearing how others hear their call to adopt.  It's a journey for all of us.  So, share with us the next step as we drive the roads of international adoption.  You've got shotgun.  Jump into the passenger seat of my silver SUV with Nebraska license plates and enjoy the ride.

On a Tuesday morning at the end of August, we're parked in the school parking lot, a few minutes earlier than expected, so we're just sitting waiting.  The kids have their seatbelts unbuckled and are fiddling with carseats and kids stuff in the backseat when my cell rings.  I didn't recognize the number but we had a few minutes to spare before the school bell rang, so I answered it. 

"Hello, this is Brooke," I always answer when I don't recognize the caller ID.

"Hi Brooke.  This is E at La Vida and we actually have the file of a little girl for you to consider," she said calmly.

I couldn't believe my ears.  I know I must have said, "Oh my gosh," "You're kidding," or something like that.  This was the referral call we have dreamed of for over 2 years!  I had always hoped I'd get the call when I was home, with my husband, with the camera in hand, set to video mode so I could have it record every word that I heard, every word I uttered, the reactions on our faces, the tears of joy that we shed.  No such luck.  Jay was at work.  I was in the car.  Sure, the camera was in my purse but was the battery charged?  Sadly, no. 

With awkward giggles through happy tears flooding my eyes, I listened to the details of a little darling in China who needed a forever family.  I heard her age, her birthdate, the day she was relinquished, the orphanage where she has been living, her special needs that have her on the CCCWA waiting child list. 

"Do you want me to email the file to you?" I was asked.

"Oh my gosh, yes!"  I said happily but calmly. 

I was totally on the boarder of screaming with joy and it surprised me that I wasn't shouting from the rooftops.  I just kept giggling and crying, crying and giggling, to which my case worker only laughed herself.  I swear I could hear her smile over the phone.  Oh, the joy she must feel on those days when she gets to announce a long awaited miracle for waiting parents!

Having totally lost track of time, I'm thankful we didn't miss the school bell.  The phone call was quick and I was told to expect the file in 15 minutes via email.  I waited in the school yard with my boys for the school bell to ring and then called my husband immediately as I walked back to my car in the parking lot.  Not even 5 minutes had elapsed.

"I got it," he answered. 

No, "Hello."  No, "Hi, Hun."  No, "What's up?"  He had received the email and opened it in the midst of a webinar he was listening to by himself in his office.  I'm guessing he probably didn't get much out of the session!  He just said, "I got it."

I raced to my waiting email and saw it with my own eyes.  I saw the picture of a round faced baby girl with fuzzy black hair and chubby cheeks.  I read her name and hoped I was pronouncing it correctly.  I read through the English translation of all the info our caseworker gave to me over the phone.  I read the medical report.  Then I talked to my husband, who under the circumstances of our upcoming move to California, sounded quite hesitant.

"What do we do?" he asked.

His hesitation worried me.  I couldn't say no to this child unless God closed the door.  Thankfully, Jay didn't want to say no either.  But we discussed the issue of his new job in California and our house for sale and our lives and stuff still in Nebraska.  How can we make this happen? 

We quickly decided a talk with our agency was in order.  Over the course of 24 hours while we had this little darling's medical files reviewed by our pediatrician and our doctor neighbor, our agency decided that we could pursue this sweet girl even in the midst of our move.  So, we began the preliminary paperwork, due in a quick 48 hours to our agency, to lock this little one in for our family.  What a whirlwind!  It was a twister that left us busy, hurried, exhausted with one of those "good headaches" by mid-afternoon.  Our Letter of Intent (LOI) was submitted immediately to our agency who had it translated and then sent overseas.

On September 5, we received our preliminary approval that basically means at a glance, it looks like this little one will be ours.  China now pulls our dossier and goes through it with a fine toothed comb then hopefully they issue us a Letter of Approval (LOA) in the next 1-4 months.

In the meantime, we're praying for a miracle in the form of a house sale, or maybe not.  See, if our house sells quickly, then we won't have to delay our daughter for too long.  We'll have to update paperwork in California, but hopefully we can do that quickly while we await approval from China.  If the house sells after we get final approval from China, then we risk delaying her, maybe even for quite some time while we update paperwork at that time.  At the same rate, perhaps this is the reason our house hasn't sold at all.  Maybe we're going to get our daughter first.  It's hard to understand.  But it is what it is and God has it all under control.

We honestly don’t know how to pray or how to ask for help or advice.  We just need God to show up and show us the way to California and to China.  Would you pray He makes the path clear to us so that our daughter’s best interests are met?


And just as an editor's note, we will not be giving you our daughter's name, location, age, special needs or anything personal.  We will not even post a picture.  While we want to share this with you immediately, our agency has the best interests of the children in mind and asks their clients to sign a confidentiality agreement.  Rest assured, when she is legally ours and in our arms in China, we will post all the fun details!  Thanks for respecting us, our agency and our daughter!

LID!!!

My Facebook status today posted my 10 year anniversary!  And I also posted that a nice anniversary gift would be a contract on our house or our LID in China.  This evening I was shocked to actually get something we've wanted for so long...

We’re on the list!  Our dossier has been received in China and we have our Log In Date (LID)!!!!!  On August 9 our dossier was officially logged into the China Center for Children's Welfare and Adoption!  The “official wait” now begins and I’ve updated the ticker above.  Now it’s just a matter of time until we are matched with our daughter.  Our agency says they’ve never had a family wait longer than 6 months for a referral in this particular program.  They are hopeful we’ll go much sooner because we’re open to different age ranges and a long list of special needs.  Yet I proceed with caution because this adoption has not followed anyone's expected timeline.

So, happy 10 year anniversary to my husband!  I wonder what the next 10 years will hold, but I think it will include a trip to China at some point!

Go, No/Go

Do you remember this dialogue from Apollo 13?

-Apollo 13 flight controllers, listen up. Give me a go, no/go for launch. Booster.
- Go.

- Retro.
- Go.

- Fido.
- We're go, Flight.

- Guidance.
- Guidance go.

- Surgeon.
- Go, Flight.

- EECOM.
- We're go, Flight.

- G.N.C.
- We're go.

- TELMU.
- Go.

- Control.
- Go, Flight.

- Procedures.
- Go.

- INCO.
- Go.

- F.A.O.
- We are go.

- Network.
- Go.

- Recovery.
- Go!

- Capcom.
- We're go, Flight.

Launch control, this is Houston. We are go for launch.


I think you could just as well substitute adoption lingo in there and it would work quite fittingly. Allow me a little fun here…


La Vida this is Collins. Give me a go, no/go for Adoption.

- Application.
- Go

- Birth certificates
- Go

- Employment letters
- We’re go, Adopt

- Financials
- Financials, go

- Medicals
- Go, Adopt

- Background checks
- We’re go, Adopt

- Photos
- We’re go

- Passports
- Go

- Homestudy
- Go, Adopt

- Payments
- We are go

- I-797
- Go

- Authentication
- Go!

- DTC
- We’re go, Adopt

China, this is Collins, we are go for Adoption!

Going through my checklists just reminded me of the movie. So, anyone wondering what DTC is? In China adoption lingo, it stands for Dossier To China. Friends, we are go adoption! As of TODAY our dossier has been launched and is on its way overseas. God speed, dossier!

Our agency has already been looking at partial lists of waiting children to see if any would be a potential match.  If they find a little girl who seems like the perfect fit, they can lock her in before our dossier is even registered in China.  But in order to look at the full list of waiting children, we need to wait for our dossier to be received and logged in (estimated to take 2-4 weeks from today).  Please see our Prayer Request page for new requests!

2 Years

We’ve hit the 2 year mark in our adoption epic (thanks RM for that term – “epic” is way more fitting than “journey” at this point).  Two years ago today we started travelling this road. Two years, dreams of Nepal, one country shutdown, thousands of dollars lost, a 3-inch pink binder filled with countless pieces of paper, dozens of notarizations, and now repeat all of that all over again in a second large binder and add new dreams of China and I still haven’t seen the face of my daughter yet.

Adoptive families, friends and bloggers have told me that it will all be worth it when I hold my daughter in my arms on the other side of the globe. While I believe that to be true, I can’t quite wrap my head around that statement because that reality is just so very far, far away!

In all honesty, I really want to write about all the feelings I have today, the desperation, the desire to give up, the feeling of being at the end of my rope, let down, because that is how I’ve been feeling for months with the countless delays and chaos. While I’m quick to tell myself not to throw a pity party, an old friend of mine who is an amazing writer and speaker recently taught me that this is all a part of the grieving process. The last two years have brought us a lot of grief – the loss of a Nepali daughter, the loss of a major chunk of our savings, the loss of some good friends and even the loss of our local church. Painful to the very core of who we are and the hurts still keep coming even when I don’t think I can possibly take any more.  I'm still grieving.

I want to think positive, to press on towards something I think God has called me to, to follow Him wherever He may lead. If the month of April taught me anything, it taught me how strong I am. Does that sound braggadocios? I don’t mean it that way at all. I think all of us have hidden strength that God has given us, particularly in these times of trouble, and we need to acknowledge it and use it. So, I’ll try. Some days will be better than others. But with the tiniest shred of energy I have left inside me, I will be strong and endure the wait for my daughter. She is worth it. If God went to the ends of the earth for me, I’ll go to the ends of the earth for my little girl.

So in response to my previous post (Decisions – May 25), we are still adopting and not giving up. Our social worker has sent in her addendum and once again we continue the wait for our final form from USCIS. Once we are officially out on the West Coast we will update our home study and dossier with all that new information. If any of you bloggers know a good social worker in the Sacramento area, I’d love a reference!

Hang in there, Sweet Girl. Mommy loves you! Mommy is STILL dreaming of you. And I WILL come to get you and bring you HOME!

Happiness While Paying Bills

I know.  You think I've lost my mind by the title of this post!  Well, you're not too far off!  But it's Monday and I was handling the weekly task of paying bills this morning and 2 things made me literally cheer out loud.

1. We got our Federal and State tax returns.  The amount will cover almost half of our next adoption payment when our dossier goes to China.
2. I saw that my check to USCIS, which I mailed in December, then was lost by the government in March, has not only been found, but it has been cashed. 

So, I can only take this to mean that the final fingerprint appointment for our basement renter will arrive in the mail in the coming days.  Time is of the essence here as he's moving out in mid-May. 

Holiday Cooking - Chinese Style

This year I was reminded of what we did last year on Christmas Eve – the Nepali dinner I cooked after Christmas Eve services at church. Even my oldest son remembered the Momos he loved.  We had so much hope last Christmas that we’d have our Nepali daughter home by Christmas 2010. That was our plan, not God’s.

But, with JOY this year, I made an authentic Chinese dinner on Christmas Eve (and said a prayer or two for the children of Nepal). I have some recipes from Jay’s Godparents in Minnesota who spent a great amount of time in China, love to cook and have some authentic recipes. Here was our Christmas Eve menu, in honor of the daughter we pray will be home long before Christmas 2011.

Appetizers:   Spring Rolls

Main Course:   Ling’s Palace Treasure Chicken and Fried Rice

It was DELICIOUS and I'm nearly certain this could become a holiday tradition.  In hindsight, I should have made the spring roll filling and the chicken and fried rice before church, just to elminate the rushing upon our return home.  Then all I would have had to do is roll and fry the spring rolls.  Either that our church just has to do earlier afternoon Christmas services!

I hope all of you were able to find joy during this holiday season even when it feels like someone is missing from your family.  Blessings to you all in 2011 and may our children come home from their foreign lands!

Turkeys in Disguise

My 2nd grader had a class project that we were asked to complete as a family this weekend. We were instructed to help disguise a paper turkey in a way that is “meaningful to our family.” Our son will take it to school on Monday and write a story about it. At first, we over-read that “meaningful” part and had decided to dress him like a robot using tin foil and grommets and stuff. Then I re-read the note from the teachers. “Meaningful.” Hmmmm.

Sitting in the living room on Thursday night we discussed it as a family. Jay thought we should dress it in some sort of Japanese way since that would be meaningful to me (I lived & studied in Japan during my sophomore year in college). But then it hit me… “No! China!!! Let’s make him a Chinese Dragon disguise! That would be meaningful to ALL of us!” My son was thrilled with the choice and bounced up and down, “Yeah, YeAh, YEAH,” a big smile on his face.

So, after I put the boys to bed, I Googled for lots of Chinese dragon images, copied and pasted a few, then manipulated them in Publisher and printed. I cut them out on Friday morning so they were ready for coloring and decorating over the weekend. Jay went out and picked up some colored tissue paper at Walmart for the body of the dragon. Of course, I knew my youngest would also want to make one, so I made enough for him too.

Enjoy our 2 turkeys in disguise, plus the head of the one I colored as an example for the boys.  [36 years old and I still love to color!]  Yes, the detail was a bit much for my 3 ½ year old, so I ended up doing most of his, but he told me what colors to use and where they go.  And then my 7 year old colored on the wrong side of his dragon's body, so his isn't aligned quite right, but I love how they turned out!

May our turkeys have luck escaping an imminent demise this Thanksgiving holiday. And as a dragon (Chinese symbol for luck), may they bring luck to us for getting this home study done and get our dossier on the road to China already!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!